Dog owners must register their pet with the local authority and pay dog tax. However, some people are exempt from dog tax or only pay half the tax rate.
In Tübingen, for example, no tax has to be paid for rescue dogs, guide dogs or therapy dogs. Single people over the age of 60 who have a KreisBonusCard only have to pay half the tax. Citizens’ benefit recipients can also apply for a 50 percent tax reduction. Anyone who gets a dog from a Tübingen animal shelter and has kept it for at least two years can then have the tax for the first year refunded.
Reductions are only available for the first dog. The tax is paid for one calendar year from the start of the tax liability. Can tax that has already been paid be refunded if the dog no longer exists or the dog owner is entitled to a reduction? “If there is an entitlement to a tax reduction or exemption, the overpaid tax will be refunded,” answers Silke Herzmann, an employee of the City of Tübingen’s Finance Department, when asked by tuenews INTERNATIONAL.
The dog tax is a municipal tax; each municipality sets its own tax rate, which can vary from town to town. The money flows into the budgets of the towns and municipalities. In Tübingen, the tax is 144 euros per dog per year. In Rottenburg, it is 108 euros per dog. See also: tun22110303
More information on dog tax in Reutlingen and Tübingen:
https://www.tuebingen.de/verwaltung/verfahren#hundesteuer_anmeldung
https://www.rottenburg.de/hundesteuer+dog+register.19820.htm?lnav=22
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Hund auf Weg in der Natur. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Theresa Melnyk.
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